California Interfaith Power & Light is made possible through the assistance of interns and other volunteers. Please contact us if you’d like to explore lending a hand to our work. A BIG thank you to all our current and former interns.
Emmanuel Nunez – Low-Income Weatherization Program Intern
Emmanuel carries a vision that emphasizes compassion for the environment and global communities. Much of his professional career has revolved around community engagement, neighborhood outreach and know your rights education. He is deeply rooted in local networks of Los Angeles and has experience in taking leadership with regards to community organizing efforts around issues of gentrification and displacement.
Through the practical application of Popular Education theory (informed by work Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire) he has learned how religion plays a major role in many communities who are the first to be negatively impacted by environmental pollution. He strives to work collectively for a positive impact in the interfaith communities of Southern California. Emmanuel enjoys sharing the important nuances of urban gardening, coalition building, social justice and non-western cosmologies. Emmanuel is a first-generation college graduate from Cal State LA University who obtained a Bachelors in Sociology with an emphasis in Inequalities, Feminist Theory and Social Change Movements.
Previous Interns
Rachel Klein
Rachel is a rising sophomore at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, double majoring in Environmental Studies and Religion with a minor in Sociology. IPL presents a great opportunity for Rachel to explore how her two majors fit together outside of the academic world. She is excited to be back home in California for the summer interning with California IPL and working on congregation outreach in northern California. Having grown up Jewish in Oakland, California, she is looking forward to learning more about the diverse people and faith communities all over California.
Iris Morrell
Iris is a life-long San Francisco resident whose interests include geology, geography, and environmental humanities. A rising sophomore at Bard College at Simon’s Rock, she has worked with a variety of local campaigns and organizations, including the San Francisco Unified School District and the Yes on F/Vote16 campaign. Working with IPL is a great opportunity for Iris to learn more about the religious community in California and to gain experience with legislation and organizing. As a Jewish American, Iris is also very interested in learning more about the interfaith community, and becoming involved through her work at CIPL.
Daniel Naftel
Currently, Daniel is primarily serving with IPL’s national office but also assists with CIPL projects like the Green Jobs Summit & Fair, Cool Climate Award videos, and website. Daniel is serving IPL through the Episcopal Service Corps. Daniel is a recent graduate from the University of Colorado, Boulder, with a degree in International Relations. He hopes to continue on to the graduate level to study models of international conflict and cooperation as they relate to environmental conservation and curbing greenhouse gas emissions. In his free time he enjoys trail running, skiing, and backpacking.
Kia Jones
Although I was born and spent my first eight years in the Midwest (Missouri and Oklahoma), I consider myself to be a Californian. California has shaped and transformed me in incalculable ways.
I grew up in what was called the “Inland Empire.” A place somewhere midway between southern California’ beaches, and its deserts. I lived in this region from eight to eighteen and only left to move to Los Angeles to attend Mt. Saint Mary’s College. I graduated with a degree in Biology in 2001.
During my four years of undergrad, I decided that I was more interested in religion than science and I decided to take some time to figure out what I wanted to do next. My “time out,” ended up taking 13 years. In this time I worked with children in foster care, traveled,
and moved back to Oklahoma where I lived for three years.
In the Fall of 2014 I moved to San Francisco to pursue a MA in Philosophy and Religion with an emphasis in Ecology, Spirituality and Religion. I am currently interning with CIPL and assisting with the No Coal in Oakland campaign. I will be graduating in May of this year, and am excited to see what the future holds. (Photo by Brooke Anderson)
Raphael Flores
Raphael was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. He studied Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is intrigued with the ways politics and religion intersect, especially in respect to social and environmental justice. Raphael joined CIPL in January 2016 through the Episcopal Service Corps.
Kali Parkin
Kali found IPL through the California Institute of Integral Studies where she is currently studying for her MA in philosophy and religion. As part of her class “Touch the Earth: An integral ecology practicum”, she has volunteered as an intern with IPL for the semester Spring 2016. With a background in chemistry, she is using this opportunity to really broaden her knowledge on the widespread climate crisis that is facing us today. The main goal for this working collaboration is to explore and help strengthen the role that faith communities play in both educating people about the issues at hand and taking action towards new climate policies, locally as well as throughout California.
Isaac Ramos
Isaac grew up in a small town called Pixley, located in California’s Central Valley. He attended Azusa Pacific University, where he graduated with a Bachelors of Arts in Communication, and an emphasis on Media Studies. It was during his undergrad that he spent a month in South Africa, where he was exposed to poverty in the slums of Soweto. After experiencing poverty, he decided to pursue a career in which he could serve amongst the marginalized in society. This led him to get his Masters of Arts in Transformational Urban Leadership (MATUL), also with Azusa Pacific University.
The MATUL program is designed as an international urban program. Isaac spent the first few months of the program living and serving in South Central, Los Angeles, before he moved abroad to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. While in Brazil, Isaac was living, learning, and serving in the favelas of the city; working amongst some of the most marginalized in society. Isaac is now back in Los Angeles, interning with CIPL’s So Cal office as he continues to study community organizing and advocacy. After experiencing extreme poverty, Isaac has now become passionate about understanding environmental justice, and how we can become “difference makers” with regards to our own climate, to create a more sustainable future for everyone, including those on the margins of society.